Merisel Launches E-business Networking and Communications Division; Supports VARs With New High-margin Opportunities.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 2000

Merisel Inc. (Nasdaq:MSEL) today announced that its North American Distribution business is launching a new E-business Networking and Communications division.

As part of its strategy to help resellers grow more profitably through high-margin opportunities, Merisel is providing high-touch support through dedicated infrastructure and plans to expand its line of networking and communications products and services.

"Our reseller and manufacturer partners will receive the benefits of dedicated infrastructure in sales and specialized technical support that have been so successful in the MOCA model," said Ron Smith, president of Merisel's North American Distribution business.

"This model has proven that high-touch resources combined with high-tech sales and technical support lead to revenue and profit growth for all our partners."

To launch the division, Merisel plans to select 25 reseller partners to participate in a pilot program beginning in the third quarter of 2000. Merisel is targeting network and Web integrators who design and deploy e-business infrastructure for enterprises, network service providers, Internet service providers and application service providers.

Resellers will be chosen based on their revenue potential, markets served and sales and technical infrastructure. Selected resellers will receive the following services:

       --  Technical Support -- highly trained system engineers for pre-         and post-sales support      --  Sales Support -- dedicated inbound and outbound sales force      --  Business Planning Support -- dedicated regional business         specialists will work with resellers in the field to plan         technical/sales certification, joint opportunity development         with manufacturer partners and end-user demand generation      --  Marketing Support -- targeted telemarketing, collateral         development and seminars      --  Network Infrastructure Products-- a full line of servers,         access, Web-caching, traffic-management and acceleration         products 

"We are taking a unique approach to networking sales that we believe will not only help our customers grow, but will create end-user demand in the market for our manufacturers' networking products," said Smith.

As part of the new division, Merisel plans to aggressively expand its line of networking and communications products by recruiting leading manufacturer partners with technical, WAN and telephony networking products.

These product lines are expected to complement the company's existing solutions, which include products from 3 Com, ADC Kentrox, Alcatel, Allied Telesyn, Attachmate Corp., Citrix Systems, Compaq, Digi Inc., D-Link Systems, Equinox, Gadzoox Networks, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Kingston, Linksys, Lucent, Madge Networks Inc., Multitech Inc., Netopia, Ramp Networks Inc., Santa Cruz Operation, SMC and Xircom.

Merisel is a leading full-line distributor of technology products to resellers throughout North America. In 1999, the El Segundo-based company generated sales of $5.2 billion and ranked number 317 on the Fortune 500.

Merisel supports the growth of its partners with flexible financing options, expert technical support, business-development services, training opportunities, certified product configuration, progressive e-business solutions and world-class logistics services.

Merisel Open Computing Alliance Inc. (MOCA(R)) offers dedicated support to Sun Microsystems-authorized resellers and consultants. Visit Merisel at www.merisel.com.